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CB Fisk

The perfectly formed mast hoops on the Schooner Adventure were custom made at Gloucester’s own C.B. Fisk organ building company. The Newbury company Pert Lowell makes mast hoops however the largest they have to offer is only a foot in diameter. See the video of Greg, Geoff, and Bill making the hoops, from shaping the strips of steamed ash around the form to finished fastening. Geoff Deckebach is the lead shipwright and restoration project coordinator for the Adventure. Greg Bover shares that Geoff made the ingenious circular jig. The ash for the hoops was donated by Jim Knott, who also donated the ship’s engine.

The next member sail is this coming Wednesday, August 12th at 3pm. Take advantage of this fabulous offer! For more information about becoming a member and sailing benefits visit the Adventure website here.

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Dear friends and family,
I hope you can join us in Gloucester for the open shop listed below. I’ll be doing the 2:30 shop tour, there are others at 3:30 and 4:30.
Please feel free to forward this invitation to anyone you think might be interested.
Regards,
Greg

We cordially invite you to join us at our
Gloucester workshop to celebrate the creation ofOpus 145, a new pipe organ for—

Well, the Catholic Church had been losing influence — and parishioners — partly due to tensions created by events leading up to the Protestant Reformation, which was sparked a few years after Julius II died. So, thought Julius, what better way to bring people back to the fold than to make his churches the most beautiful buildings you’re ever likely to see.

And then, of course, there’s the music, which matured over the next 200 years to produce such great works that we still play them today. Think our popular music will be played 300 years from now? Here’s a piece you proabably know, written about 300 years ago:

Imagine life in the early 1700s (when Bach was a church organist — 200 years after Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel). The only sounds you heard were those of nature–birds chirping, rustling leaves, whistling wind, the roar of the sea, the gentle wash of a babbling brook or running stream. Think of this as the background music of the day upon which you hear the human voice: the sigh of a maiden in love; the jealous rage of a prince betrayed; the joyful song of family gathered around a crackling fire; a newborn’s cradle gently rocking on wide pine boards to his mother’s soft candlelight serenade.

People of the day spent their lives listening to the sounds of nature augmented only by music they made themselves, the notable exception being on Sunday. Church music was an utterly exotic and extraordinary sound — and most likely the loudest sound anyone ever heard.

So, you fill the most impressive building in the city with the best art and music available anywhere on Earth and you’ve got a draw. That’s what got people to church. And it still does. Just ask Greg Bover who buys most of the organs he builds at CB Fisk.

Regardless of their religious affiliations, more people go to church during big celebrations than at any other time — and a big reason is that’s when the music and pageantry (entertainment wrapped in ceremony) are at their best. Check out this video of an Easter 2012 church service to see what I’m talking about:

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As we do at the end of the construction phase of every project, we are having an Open Shop at our place on Kondelin Road, just off Magnolia Avenue, in the Cape Ann Industrial Park. The party runs from two o’clock to six o’clock on Saturday, November 13. We’ll be showing off our newest pipe organ, Opus 137 for Christ Church, Andover.

The picture below is of the design model we made in 1 to 16 scale. The organ itself stands 25 feet tall and weighs 11 tons. It is quartered white oak in an Arts and Crafts inspired style for this beautiful Richardsonian Romanesque church.

Folks can come and play the organ or just listen, get tours of the entire 25,000 square foot shop, and see how we create these enormous instruments from scratch. Even little kids are fascinated by the place.

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Free GMG Gloucester Sticker

As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)

Free GMG Gloucester Sticker

As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)